ASU Football: Why first win as a ranked team in Edwards era is crucial for Sun Devils success

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

Since Herm Edwards began coaching Arizona State (5-1, 2-1 Pac-12), the Sun Devils have won more than their fair share of close contests. Mixed amongst all the close, sometimes unexpected, wins have been a few clunkers with the Sun Devils losing as a ranked team to an unranked opponent. So when redshirt sophomore Michael Turk’s first shank of the year left his right foot with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, it looked as if the Sun Devil special teams unit was assisting in what would be another loss as a ranked team.

Yet, despite great field position to start with – the Cougars took over at the Sun Devil 36-yard line – it was Arizona State’s defense which stepped up. On a day when redshirt senior Anthony Gordon threw for 466 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales and the defense’s ability to hold WSU to just a field goal, coupled with Jayden Daniels’ third game-winning drive in his short career, helped No. 18 ASU pull out a 38-34 win over Washington State (3-3, 0-3 Pac-12).

“I told [ASU president Michael Crow] these guys are going to give me a heart attack,” Edwards said following the Sun Devils sixth victory by fewer than four points during his tenure at ASU. “But that’s who they are. They are a resilient bunch.”

The resilient bunch, led by Daniels, completed a comeback which, and this cannot be overstated, may have altered the trajectory of Edwards and the Arizona State program. Prior to Saturday’s contest, plenty had been said about the Devils knack for losing as a ranked team. The ability to enter the AP rankings one week, and subsequently fall out of them the next, was almost a distinguishing character trait of the Sun Devils – who prior to Saturday had failed to win a game as a ranked squad since 2014.

The difference between good and great in college football is razor thin. Had Daniels not orchestrated a 13-play, 75-yard game-winning drive, capped off by a little-regard-for-human-body type 17-yard touchdown run, much of the conversation surrounding the football program in Tempe would have been focused on the Sun Devils’ inability to get over the figurative hump.

“I’m thinking in my brain ‘here we go again,’” said Edwards, after the Devils trailed 10-0 after a quarter. “We were able to move the ball and then all of a sudden we hit a couple of big plays.”

On a day where he battled an illness, Brandon Aiyuk’s 40-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter kickstarted a Sun Devil offense that had averaged just 22.8 points per game prior to the matchup. Aiyuk’s seven catches for 196 yards and three touchdowns were key to the comeback.

Through six games, Aiyuk has averaged 108.5 receiving yards per game, one-upping first round NFL draft pick N’Keal Harry’s output in 2018 for the Sun Devils and further exemplifying the plug-and-play style of the program. A day after Agiye Hall, the No. 1 wide receiver in the Class of 2021, included ASU among his final seven schools, Aiyuk and Daniels provided another example of what the future in Tempe could hold.

“I’ve been saying this since day one,” said junior running back Eno Benajmin, who rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown in the win. “We stepped in here and we knew what the situation was going to be. No one panicked about it.

“I say it all the time. The way [Daniels] goes through practice, you would never be able to even tell that he was a freshman, so that’s really just a testament to him.”

Edwards can and will tell the media that he doesn’t care about rankings, that they shouldn’t impact how the players play, or what the final score reads after 60 minutes. But getting ranked, and staying ranked, admittedly or not, directly impacts the national relevance and reach of the program.

“Our motto is real simple. ‘Stay hungry and humble’,” said Edwards, whose team moved up one spot in the AP poll, to 17, following the win. “I don’t care about any rankings. I don’t pay attention to them. The only way I know is when you folks come in here and tell me. I don’t read it, I don’t watch it, I don’t pay attention to it.

“I know what we gotta do now. We gotta go play Utah, and they’ve got a really good football team.”

Through six games in 2019, the Sun Devils are winning because of the play of the youth on the field, rather than in spite of it. That fact, coupled with continued recruiting success, remains an important factor in the Sun Devils ability to build the “pro model” in Tempe.

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